The Reality of the Situation
by FirstSwordOfTheRealm
Summary: When transported into the realm of his favourite books, William must find a way to help Harry Potter stop Voldemort before too many people die. But his troubles don't stop there. A certain brunette with a love for books has set her sights on the new mystery.
1. Thunderstruck

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. All rights go to our Goddess J. K. Rowling

August 28, 2004

Lightning split the sky in a thousand cracks of light. Thunder rumbled, deep and fierce. Feet slapped on the pavement as William ran home during one of the worst storms he had ever known in his 18 years. Lightning flashes again, rain pouring down in an torrent of water onto the small town of Lofty Pines.

August 28, 1991

Dumbledore looked up from his desk in surprise. Surely the oscilloscope wasn't meant to make that noise. He glanced over at the manometer, which was swinging wildly. The room lit up, as the storm raging outside Hogwarts sent another bolt of lightning towards Hogwarts, only to disappear upon contact with the weather barrier. There was always perfect weather at Hogwarts, but this particular storm worried Dumbledore. It had a touch too much magic mingling with the rain.

William turned the corner at a dead sprint. The rain made it nearly impossible not to slip over, but he had managed. Lightning lit up the sky again, and William was hoping the copies of the Harry Potter books he had in his backpack weren't getting too wet. They were his favourite books after all. William felt a tension in the air and saw electrical charges jump from metal poles to puddles of water and back again. The pressure grew until William was almost unable to bare it, sinking to his knees. He looked up as a bolt of energy lanced down from the dark clouds and struck him, turning the world white.

Dumbledore's instruments surged as energy ran rampant through the room. He held an arm in front of his face to block the light as a bolt of energy pierced the wards Dumbledore had place in Hogwarts and lanced into his office. When the light faded, Dumbledore saw a boy, no more than 11 years old lying facedown on the floor. Dumbledore flinched as a small instrument in the corner of the room went 'ding', letting the headmaster know another Magical child had been added to the Hogwarts roster.

As William stirred towards consciousness, he heard several voices.

"...but Albus, who is this child?" It was a woman's voice.

And older man spoke softly, "I do not know, Poppy. He is not a muggle though. He is to start his schooling here at the start of term, at least until we know who he is for certain."

"As you wish, Albus."

The voices faded away as sleep once again claimed him.


	2. Ecstasy of Gold

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. All rights go to our Goddess J. K. Rowling

August 29, 1991

William woke up to soft sheets, and sunlight filtering through the window. He slowly sat up, as what seemed like every muscle in his body was screaming at him. He looked around at the large hall he had woken up in. The windows were tall, with large white curtains. There were many beds just like the one he was currently sat in. There was even a privacy curtain for each bed. Judging from the look of the place, William assumed he was in a medical ward of some sort. He moved the sheets off of him as he sat on the side of the bed, and looked down in shock. He was so small! In fact, he hadn't been this small since he was about 11.

"Oh my, you are awake!" An elderly woman in a nurse's uniform bumbled from a small office at the end of the hall that William had missed.

"Let me have a look at you" she said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm--" He blinked in surprise. Even his voice was that of a child. Well, thought William, perhaps that was to be expected. "I'm a little thirsty. Where am I?"

The woman smiled gently. "You are in my ward, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Madam Pomfrey. What is your name, dear?"

William swallowed. This is Hogwarts? He looked up at Madam Pomfrey and realised that she was waiting for a response. "My name is William, er… Brown. William Brown."

Madam Pomfrey handed him a glass of water. "Well Mr. Brown, I think you are ready to leave my ward. The Headmaster should be here any moment."

As she spoke, Dumbledore stepped through a large set of doors on the other side, followed by a stern looking woman in long black robes. "Oh good," he said quietly. "You are awake."

Madam Pomfrey softly spoke to the pair for a few minutes while William stared at them. They looked exactly like they were in the books, which meant… the stern looking woman could only be Professor McGonagall.

As if she had heard his thoughts, the woman stepped forward. "Hello Mr Brown, I am Professor McGonagall. Do you recall what happened to you?"

William knew that he couldn't tell them the truth; he wasn't even from this world! "I… I can't remember…" He felt guilty at the lie, but if it kept him safe, he would stand by it.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips. "Very well, follow me then. While we decide where to send you, you shall study here at Hogwarts. We are going to collect your supplies from Diagon Alley."

She took William to her office, a sparsely decorated room, mainly consisting of a desk, chair and fireplace. It was the fireplace she led him to, and turned to William. "I want you to remember, these flames will not burn you while we take the floo." With that, she drew some powder out of a small dish on the fireplace and threw it into the flames, saying, "Leaky Cauldron!" As the flames turned green, she stepped into them and disappeared in a burst of flame. William copied her, finding himself in an old bar in London.

Professor McGonagall took him to the back of the Leaky Cauldron to a brick wall, where she tapped several bricks with her wand. William watched in fascination as they moved out of the way, quickly forming a doorway. He had read it in the books, but man… seeing for yourself was something else.

There seemed to be a shop for just about anything magic related. There was Madam Malkin's robes, Ollivander's wands, Flourish Blotts, and so many more. William could have sworn Professor McGonagall smiled at his reaction to the wondrous place, but when he turned to look she was as straight faced as ever.

She led him to a large white building at the corner of an intersection. It was huge, made of marble with burnished steel lettering on the front spelling: GRINGOTTS. William openly gaped at the goblins, as the books didn't do them justice. They were small, roughly his size, but stunted. Their fingers had nails that were almost claws, their noses were long, hooked and crooked. Their faces were twisted with disguised cruelty and beady black eyes peered out from under their thick eyebrows. Professor McGonagall strode up to a goblin at a high desk, who glared at her. There was a nameplate on his desk that read 'Drombar'.

"Vault 718, for the Hogwarts Welfare." She said curtly.

The goblin growled, "Do you have the key?"

Professor McGonagall drew it from a pocket somewhere in her robes. Grombar all but snatched it out of her fingers, saying "Follow me.". William decided that he didn't like goblins, but from what he had seen, he didn't want to get on their bad side either. They followed the goblin through a large steel door into a tunnel made of dark grey stones. This part looked ancient, and William had no idea how old it really was. The tunnel ended in a cavern with a set of rails that twisted and curved throughout the maze that no-one could hope to navigate. They all got into the cart attached to the rails, and it leapt forward, seemingly without command. The cart took them at dizzying speeds through a labyrinth, and William could have sworn he saw a dragon. He was about to ask, but the professor looked a little green. They arrived at the vault, a great door made of unknown metals set into the bedrock. Grombar produced the small golden key, and stroked the door lovingly. The metal seemed to melt away at his touch, revealing a small keyhole. The goblin put the key in the hole, and let go. The door all but swallowed the key, and then released it again. Grombar took the key and returned it to the Professor. The door made a groaning noise, before sliding open soundlessly. Inside was a large pile of Galleons, gleaming in the faint light of the lamp attached to the cart. Professor McGonagall took a small sack and collected a small portion of the gold in the vault.

"My business is concluded." She told the goblin.

The trip back was just a fast, and soon they were back outside again. The professor looked down at William and said, "Now for your supplies. First we shall go to Madam Malkin's." She gestured at the street. "This way."


	3. Freight Train

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. All rights go to our Goddess J. K. Rowling.

The rest of the trip through Diagon Alley was fascinating, with a huge range of magical tools and ingredients, and William even got a small cat as his familiar. It was a breed called a Maine Coon, which the storekeeper promised to grow much larger. He immediately decided on a name: 'Rìghnacait', which meant 'King of the cats' in Scottish Gaelic. William's grandad could speak what he called 'The old tongue', and taught him bits and pieces.

His wand seemed to be ordinary to both Professor McGonagall and Ollivander, but to him, this was everything he'd ever wanted. Sure, anyone who read Harry Potter imagined using magic, but he was here, about to start doing it! His wand was 12 ", Apple with a core of Unicorn tail hair, slightly springy, according to Ollivander anyway. William didn't recall there being anything mentioned in the books about the different types of wand, apart from that Harry's would do great things. William left Ollivander's feeling both happy and confused.

Professor McGonagall told him that he would be staying at the Hospital wing for the time being, as he had yet to be sorted and the other students had yet to arrive. William didn't want to seem like a special case, so he approached Professor McGonagall with an idea.

"Professor?" he asked. "I was wondering, could I go to the train station and board the train with the other students? I don't want to stand out like that."

The professor frowned. "This is highly unusual Mr. Brown, but I do see where you are coming from. As you wish, I shall take you to the station prior to departure on September 1st. Come see me with your trunk at 8am sharp."

William proceeded to spend the remaining days before he needed to go to King's Cross Station reading his school books with Raìgnacait sat at his feet.

It was fascinating, all this information on the theory of magic. As he read the books, William came to realise that this world was so much more than J. K. Rowling had written. She didn't ever mention what was in the books, and yet the information was here. The theories often touched upon science, in a way. Magic was just another form of energy, energy that could be manipulated by a small percentage of the population.

William spent most of his time in the library, reading up on magical theory. He recalled the first potions class, and started reading that too. He even tried a few spells, but was politely kicked out when Madam Pince caught him practicing.

In no time flat, it was time to go. William hurriedly put his books in his trunk and ran to Professor McGonagall's office. He raised his hand to knock when the door seemed to open of its own accord.

"Right on time Mr. Brown. Follow me." said the Professor as she rose from her desk. She led William out of the castle towards the Hogsmede station. When they got there, Professor McGonagall put her hand on William's shoulder and William felt as though he bellybutton was being pulled through his nose, and then they were somewhere else.

The train station was huge, and the train was much longer than any passenger train had any right to be. The platform was crowded, witches and wizards with their children all over the place. A group of redheads came through the barrier, and they could only be the Weasley's. The youngest looking boy ran through, followed by a black haired boy in clothes a few sizes too big for him. The broken glasses and lightning bolt scar identified him as Harry Potter. William was nervous, this was it. He was going to try to be friends with The-Boy-Who-Lived.

William looked back at the professor, only to find she had already apparated back. He shrugged, then followed Harry onto the train. He waited until Harry got into a compartment, then followed him in. Harry was asking the small red haired Boy With A Smidge of dirt on his nose if he could sit next to him. They both looked up as William walked in.

"Er... Hi, my name is William Brown. What's yours?" asked William nervously.

"I'm Ron. Ron Weasley." the red haired boy declared.

The black haired boy looked nervous. "I'm Harry." he said. "Harry Potter."

Ron's eyes grew wide. "No way! Do you have... you know... the scar?"

Harry reluctantly push the hair away from his glasses and revealed a thin lightning bolt shaped scar in the middle of his forehead.

"Wicked." breathed Ron.

William sat down next to Harry as the train started moving. This timeline was already slightly different from what he had read. Surely his arrival hadn't changed anything?

The boys talked for a few minutes before the trolley arrived.

"Anything sweet for you, dears?" called the Trolley lady.

Ron declined, pulling out his homemade sandwiches, but Harry eagerly bought a whole heap of assorted magical candies. It was his first time seeing them, and even William craned his neck to have a look.

Before long, a round faced boy popped his head through the door. "Have you seen my toad?" the boy asked. "Only, he's gone missing again."

"Sorry mate, we haven't seen any toads here." William said. He held out his hand to shake. "My name's William Brown."

The boy shook it nervously. "Neville Longbottom."

Harry looked like he wanted to snigger.

"Hey, aren't your parents those amazing Aurors? It's such a shame what happened to them."

Neville blinked as Harry quietly asked Ron what Aurors were.

"T-thanks" He stuttered. "I should look for Trevor."

William decided that if Harry was going to survive the next few years, he'd need some friends to help him out. Especially in his 4th year. Sometimes Ron was just so thick. "I'll help. Which carriages have you checked?" He asked cheerfully.

With the help of a bushy haired girl who introduced herself as Hermione Granger, Trevor was soon found. Hermione reminded William that they would be arriving at Hogwarts soon, so he had better change into his robes.

William re-entered the carriage he shared with Harry and Ron.

"Hey, do you want to see some magic?" said Ron, pulling out his wand. "My brother Fred taught this spell to me." He leveled his wand at his rat, Scabbers. William dearly hoped that the spell would work this time. It wouldn't stop what Peter Pettigrew was going to do, but it would certainly make William's day.

Ron cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

Sadly, the spell didn't work this time either.


	4. You Can Leave Your Hat On

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter .

A/N: hey guys, i don't really know how this is going, so I'd really appreciate some constructive criticism and feedback on the story so far. I will die for your reviews.

Without further ado, the next chapter.

The rest of the trip went quietly, with William reading his school books, occasionally saying "Hey, did you know..." as he went through the various books Hogwarts required. Ron was experimenting with Berni Botts Every Flavour Beans and talking aloud about Quidditch, receiving a Toe-flavoured bean for his troubles, and Harry was interjecting every now and then about the schoolwork.

William was half way through the Transfiguration book - it was describing how to visualise the transition from an animal to a goblet - when a voice echoed through the train.

"We will be approaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

They quickly put on the black robes when the train slowed to the station at a small village outside Hogwarts. Ron told him that this must be Hogsmeade, the wizarding village that hosted the students from Hogwarts every other weekend."

As they disembarked into the cold night, they saw a huge man with a black beard reaching midway down his massive chest. His eyes gleamed through his unruly black hair that fell down around his shoulders.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! All right there Harry?" called the giant.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs'-years? Mind yer step now! Firs'-years follow me!"

They followed Hagrid, as he could only be so, down a steep, narrow path lined with thick trees. Nobody spoke, and Neville sniffed a few times. William walked inbetween Neville and Harry.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called from the front, "jus' round this bend here"

There was a loud 'Ooooh!' from the first years as How came into view. The narrow path they had been following widened as they approached a large, dark lake. Hogwarts rose from a hill behind it, windows shining with bright lights, turrets and towers piercing the sky.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of boats that lined the shore of the lake.

William steered Neville and Hermione into the same boat as Harry, leaving Ron to dejectedly follow Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas into another boat.

"Everyone in?" Shouted Hagrid from his own boat. "Right then - Forward!"

All the boats glided softly from the shore and moved as one towards the castle on the far shore.

Hermione introduced herself to Harry in her rapid-fire way that left her momentarily out of breath. William left them to their conversation as he talked quietly with Neville.

"I read all about your parents in _Modern Magical History!_ " William wanted to draw Neville into a conversation. He figured that talking about his parents might just draw Neville out of his shell.

Neville looked down at the water. "I don't want to talk about it." he mumbled.

Shit. That didn't work. William thought for a moment. "Do you know about any of the classes taught at Hogwarts? I had a look through the books, but I don't really understand much."

Neville mumbled something that could be interpreted as, "I'm not really good at magic."

William decided to throw the bait. "I hear they will even get us to work in some gardens. What's that got to do with magic?"

Neville looked up hopefully. "Did you say 'working in gardens'?"

William waved it off nonchalantly, "Yeah. Maybe the plants might be magical."

Neville's eyes grew wide as he took on the look that was so often used by Hermione. "There are tons of magical plants and animals! We might work on the Devil's Snare, or the Mandrakes, or the Shrivelfig, or the Bubotuber, or-"

William cut him short. "What are they? I know the Mandrake is a muggle plant, but I've never heard of the others."

Neville made to answer, but as he opened his mouth, Hagrid called out "Heads down!". William looked up as they were approaching the bottom of the hill that Hogwarts perched upon. The base of the cliff was covered in a curtain of ivy, the vines dangling in the water.

They all lowered their heads as the boats passed through the wall of vines, revealing a long, dark tunnel, hidden behind the ivy. The boats followed the tunnel, finally stopping at a dock with a path leading off to the side. They got out of the boats and followed Hagrid as he marched them up the path, curving round and up on an incline. The wall they had been following revealed itself to be the castle of Hogwarts itself. The path came to the front of the castle, and a huge set of doors. Hagrid knocked, and the dood swung open almost instantly. Inside stood Professor McGonagall, with a stern look on her face.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid reported.

"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide open and led them into the entry hall. William had already been through here, but seeing it like this was something else. The ceiling was tall and the room was wide, at least 20 metres from one side to the other. There was a closed doorway to the right from which the murmer of hundreds leaked through. To the left was a steep stairway leading down into the depths of the castle, which William guessed was the way to the dungeons. Directly in front of the group was a large staircase leading up into a series of corridors.

Professor McGonagall stopped them in front of the doors to the right and turned to them. She told them of the four houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Each was a respectable house, each with a noble history and each had produced talented witches and wizards. Once sorted, they would have classes with their housemates, sleep in the same dormitories and eat with them. Their triumphs would earn house points, and their rule-breaking would lose points. The house at the end of the school year with the most points would win the house cup, a tremendous honour.

"The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. Wait here until we are ready for you. You might want to smarten yourselves up before going in." Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Neville, who was rubbing his nose and trying to straighten his robes, respectively.

They stood awkwardly for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. There was something nagging at William, something that was different. Malfoy! He realised. Malfoy never confronted Harry on the train. Was it because William changed things, helping Neville and Hermione find the toad? Hermione didn't talk to Harry and Ron, so she didn't tell others on the train. Mayve Malfoy didn't know he was coming to Hogwarts. William could see Malfoy in the crowd, flanked by his two large minions. Despite being the same height as the rest of them, Draco somehow managed to look down his nose at anyone who wasn't obviously a pure-blood.

Hermione was muttering to herself, reciting spells that she might need. William walked over.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Hermione wrung her hands, "I'm not sure how I'm going to pass this test. I've only done basic magic so far. What do you think it will be?"

William pretended to think for a few moments.

"I've heard that we just have to put on a magic hat, and it'll sort us depending on our personalities." he said to her, but tried to be loud enough for the others to hear. Not that it was all that hard; almost everyone was anxious about what was going to happen and were staying silent.

Hermione looked up at him with a ghost of a smile, and William was struck that she, with her thick, bushy hair and buck teeth, had a certain charm to her. Hermione opened her mouth to say something when people gasped. Ghosts were floating through the walls, in mid conversation.

"I'm just saying, we should give him one more chance." Said one ghost, a fat man in religious robes.

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really a ghost." Replied a well dressed ghost. There was a faint line not quite all the way through his neck.

They appeared to notice them at last, and the second ghost bowed to the first-years.

"My, is it that time already? More students! Welcome to Hogwarts!"

Professor McGonagall came back through the doors and stood in front of the crowd of ghosts. "Alright, time enough for chatting later." She turned back to the students as the ghosts left through the other wall. "They are ready for you now."

At last, the door to the Great Hall opened and the murmuring from inside, while not stopping, did politely lower. Professor McGonagall strode forward and led the first-years past the long tables full of students to the front of the hall. At the front was a long table, with several of the professors William had seen around the castle sat behind it. In front of the table was a small stool, upon which a ancient hat, battered and worn, sat.

William smiled. He knew what was going to happen, but the other first-years didn't.

The Sorting Hat stirred, moving slightly, before a seam opened and the hat began to sing in a deep, croaky voice:

" _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find,_

 _A smarter hat than me..."_

The Sorting Hat finished the song before becoming still once more.

Professor McGonagall ushered them forward, and they stood in a loose line as Professor McGonagall pulled a scroll from her robes.

"Step forward when your name is called, sit upon the seat and put the Sorting Hat on." She cleared her throat, then started reading from the scroll.

"Abbott, Hannah."

A blond girl stepped forward and sat on the seat, putting on the hat. After a moment of silence, the hat yelled out "Hufflepuff!"

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah made her way over. The Ghost of the Fat Friar waved at her.

"Bones, Susan."

Again, the hat cried out "Hufflepuff!", and Susan ran to join Hannah as the Hufflepuff's cheered again.

"Boot, Terry."

"Ravenclaw!"

The table second from the left applauded politely and several members rose to shake Terry's hand.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy"

"Ravenclaw!"

Mandy joined Terry at the Ravenclaw table.

"Brown, Lavender."

"Gryffindor!" and the second table from the right errupted in cheers and catcalls from the Weasley twins as the first Gryffindor from the first-years sat down at the table.

"Brown, William."

William sat on the stool and put on the Hat.

The Sorting Hat's voice whispered in his ear, "Well now, what do we have here... extraordinary! This is an unusual mind."

William's eyes went wide. The hat could see inside his head?

"Of course, boy. How do you think I sort everyone? This plan of yours... Helping this Potter boy... it's rather devious. One might even say..."

William whispered, "Wait, not-"

"Slytherin!" The Hat crowed.


	5. Working Class Man

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.

A/N - I'm trying to make a proper break in between paragraphs, and i'll be testing a few to see which method works best.

"Slytherin!" crowed the Hat.

William groaned. He didn't need to see the Golden Trio's faces to feel the betrayal they felt. He reluctantly took off the Sorting Hat and moved to the far left table, who gave a quiet, polite clap.

William sat down next to a fifth-year girl wearing a badge emblazoned with a green 'P', who introduced herself as Gemma Farley and welcomed him to Slytherin house. The feast went by in a blur, Dumbledore's warnings about the forbidden Forest and the third-floor corridor were familiar, but Neville's hurt look made William shrivel up inside. He didn't ask to be put in Slytherin- in fact he was against the idea. Maybe he would be able to talk to Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione before long.

This would prove to be a long term.

The school was excused from the dinner feast with the school song, 'Hoggy Warty Hogwarts', Fred and George Weasley singing their funeral march, accompanied by Dumbledore's conducting. William followed the Prefects down to the dungeons, where they stopped in front of a blank section of wall that seemed no different to any other part of the wall.

Gemma spoke to the wall, uttering the password "Pureblood", and a door opened to reveal a large, long room, lit by a roaring fire at the opposite end. There were green lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and large windows showing the black lake above. Green light streamed through them, lighting the room in a sickly emerald green.

There was a corridor on either side of the common room. The Prefects directed them down the left side, with a series of rooms branching off.

The last door on the left was the first-years, and as soon as it opened a small, silver blur soared through the air with a meow to land in William's arms, bowling him into the first-years behind him. There was a curse from Malfoy.

"Lock that damn thing away, will you? I don't want it's hairs anywhere near my robes." the blond boy snapped.

William took Rìghnacait in his arms and sat him on the bed. They quickly got changed into their pajamas and got into bed. Suddenly very tired, William fell asleep with Rìghnacait guarding him from the foot of his bed.

William went down to breakfast with the other Slytherin first-years, walking several paces behind the others. Malfoy was walking at the front, closely shadowed by Crabbe and Goyle. He had spent several minutes oiling his hair, slicking it back with several minute adjustments that barely changed anything, but seemed to satisfy him. A small girl with a upturned nose, who William assumed was Pansy Parkinson, walked as close to Malfoy as she dared. Malfoy, it seemed, held almost as famous a name as Harry Potter did.

As they all sat down for breakfast, the plates were suddenly piled high with sausages and meat pies, baked beans and toast. Professor Snape walked down the table, handing out the schedules for the first-years.

William looked at his. Let's see, he thought, first up is Herbology and Charms with Ravenclaw, then History of Magic and Transfiguration with Hufflepuff after lunch... Huh. No time with Gryffindor at all in the first day. Hopefully he'd be able to catch up with Harry during lunch, but he had a suspicion that Harry would try to avoid all Slytherins as best as he could.

All of a sudden, a flock of owls swept in through open windows at the front of the Great Hall, each carrying a letter or parcel of some kind for their owner. There were various reactions to them, including quite a few shocked exclamations. William, to everyone's complete lack of surprise, didn't receive any letters.

He quickly asked Gemma where the greenhouses were, before hurrying off. He didn't want to be late for his first class, and Peeves was always floating around, sure to make a few 'ickle-firsties' late.

Herbology turned out to be far more hands on that William had originally expected. They started out learning the proper method to remove plants without damaging the roots, and how to tell if a plant was healthy by looking at the leaves. By the end of the lesson, everyone was sweaty and dirty, even Draco, despite his best efforts, but they had no time to get cleaned up before the next class. William hurried down the Charms classroom with the others.

The door was open when they got there, and they quietly filed into the classroom. Professor Flitwick was waiting for them as they walked through the door. He was stood on a pile of books so he could reach the podium, and started calling out names once everyone was seated. The first lesson was almost all theory, learning the differences in wand movements and incantations. Just waving the wand in the proper way without saying anything didn't do anything, unless you were good enough to cast a spell silently. That, however, wouldn't be taught until much later. Similarly, just saying the words and not moving the wand didn't do anything. Both had to be done for the magic to take place. William left the classroom with a thoughtful frown on his face as he left for lunch. Magic was far more complex than J.K. Rowling made it out to be.

Lunch was a quiet affair at the Slytherin table, and people soon got up to talk in their own circles. William cast about for Harry and Ron, but Hermione was eating alone, a book laid out in front of her. William sidled over and sat down across from her. Hermione froze, a piece of sausage halfway to her mouth. William looked down at the book she was reading; it was the transfiguration book, opened at a page describing different uses for various spells.

"Hey, Hermione." William said casually. He didn't want to scare her off, and being in Slytherin was not helping matters.

"Hello William," she responded curtly. "What are you doing at the Gryffindor table?"

Damn. She was already somewhat hostile, and he hadn't even done anything.

"I just wanted to chat. No-one over at the Slytherin table is half as good for conversation as you Gryffindor's. Besides, every minute I spend over there makes me want to thrash Malfoy and be done with it."

Hermione frowned. "You shouldn't be thrashing anyone. It's against the school rules, you know. And, uh, who's Malfoy?"

William sighed. "Just some git in Slytherin. Do you see him? The blond guy preening over there." He pointed back at the Slytherin table. "He's the son of some rich tosser, and he likes to make sure that everyone remembers it."

"Yes, I'm sure," said Hermione in a flat, dry voice. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some revising to do." She turned back to her open book and continued eating.

William saw an opportunity to help Harry. If Hermione was shown how to get Harry and Ron interested in learning more about magic, they might stand a better chance against Death Eaters. If he worked fast, William might even get them ready for whenever Voldemort appeared at the end of the school year. Now he thought about it, it was rather polite of Voldemort to wait until the end of the school year to attack.

William shook himself. He was supposed to be changing things for the better, and here he was contemplating how polite a Dark Lord was!

"What part are you up to?" He asked curiously. "I've been having trouble understanding the transformation process."

Hermione put marker in her book with a sigh, and flipped back several pages.

"Like this," she said, pointing at an illustration of a feather turning into a feather duster. "You can't just imagine the end result when performing transfiguration. You have to imagine it turning from object A to object B in real time, in one smooth motion."

"Really? That's all there is to it?" Asked William skeptically.

The rest of lunch passed in much the same fashion, Hermione teaching William the basis of magic. It wasn't long before the bell rang, and they hurried to their respective classes.

History of Magic was not exaggerated in the books in the slightest. It was by far the most boring class, and the only thing vaguely interesting was the fact that it was taught by a ghost. Professor Binns looked like he had died in his sleep, gotten out of bed as a ghost and carried on teaching anyway. He spoke in a monotonous voice, somehow managing to reach every corner of the room despite how quiet the Professor spoke. They learned about various Goblin uprisings, which made William question why Goblins were practically enslaved. They had their own culture, land, language and traditions, so the only real reason was that the Wizarding World was racist beyond belief.

The bell rang again, and everyone was in no small hurry to leave for Transfiguration. Anything was more exciting than one of Professor Binns' lectures. They arrived at the Transfiguration classroom in two groups, the Slytherins standing off to one side, seemingly because that was the privileged side, the the Hufflepuffs standing on the other, because there were no Slytherins there.

The door opened to reveal Professor McGonagall, sat at her desk. There was a small blackboard off to either side, and small birds sat in cages hanging from the ceiling. The Professor stood as they sat behind their desks.

"Greetings. I am Professor McGonagall, your Transfiguration teacher here at Hogwarts. Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

She demonstrated some Transfiguration by turning her desk into a large pig and back again.

Transfiguration appeared to be just as difficult to understand as William had feared, if not more so. It had been a blessing when Hermione had given him the lecture earlier that day; he probably wouldn't have been able to understand half as much without her help. After taking notes about the do's and don'ts, the how-to's and the algorithms for half the lesson, Professor McGonagall placed a match on each desk. Their task was to transfigure the match into a needle by the end of class.

A very mentally tired William trudged out of Transfiguration half an hour later. He had managed to make the match pointy, but no-one in the class had made the full Transfiguration.

Finally done with classes for the day, William followed the other Slytherins back to their dormitories. He didn't really want anything to do with the others, so he grabbed his books and went back to his bed. A Prefect poked his head through the door some time later to tell him to come to supper.

Review Response

Keksetsu: Thanks for the encouragement, I'm getting through the chapters so slowly it's killing me.

Rogue club: GOTCHA! Thanks for the in-depth review, it really helps to know that someone is paying attention, and pointing out parts that i need to work on. I'd really like this to go more than 10 chapters, and it's reviews like yours that help me push on through. Thanks!


	6. Omake 1: The attempt

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Someone asked for an Omake, and I've been slacking off for a while now, sorry guys. I've had a lot of work recently, and i like to procrastinate. Sue me.

Albus woke up to soft sheets, and sunlight filtering through the window. The windows were tall, with large white curtains. There were many beds just like the one he was currently sat in. There was even a privacy curtain for each bed. Judging from the look of the place, Albus assumed he was in a medical ward of some sort. He moved the sheets off of him as he sat on the side of the bed, and looked down in shock. He was so small! In fact, he hadn't been this small since he was about 11.

"Oh my, you are awake!" An elderly woman in a nurse's uniform bumbled from a small office at the end of the hall that Albus had missed.

"Let me have a look at you" she said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm-" He blinked in surprise. Even his voice was that of a child. Well, thought Albus, perhaps that was to be expected. "I'm a little thirsty. Where am I?"

The woman smiled gently. "You are in my ward, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Madam Pomfrey. What is your name, dear?"

Albus swallowed. This is Hogwarts? He looked up at Madam Pomfrey and realised that she was waiting for a response. "My name is Albus…. Albus Dumbledore."

Madam Pomfrey handed him a glass of water. "Well Mr. Dumbledore, I think you are ready to leave my ward. The Headmaster should be here any moment."

As she spoke, an older version of himself stepped through a large set of doors on the other side, followed by a stern looking woman in long black robes. "Oh good," he said quietly. "You are awake."

Madam Pomfrey softly spoke to the pair for a few minutes while Albus stared at them. They looked exactly like they were in his past, so this woman could only be his colleague Minerva.

As if she had heard his thoughts, the woman stepped forward. "Hello Mr Dumbledore, I am Professor McGonagall. Do you recall what happened to you?"

William knew that he couldn't tell them the truth; he wasn't even from this world! "I… I can't remember…" He felt guilty at the lie, but if it kept him safe, he would stand by it.

A twinkle appeared in older Dumbledore's eyes, "Ah, another dimension hopper trying to go undetected. Don't worry, we get quite a few around here. I know just what to do with you."

Older Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at Albus.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"


	7. School Days

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related content. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.

William awoke in the dorm. There was a quiet snoring from someone in the dark. He hadn't really been able to sleep for very long last night. As soft as the beds were, it was uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as so many strangers. A pair of yellow eyes at the foot of his bed meowed softly at him. William sat up and reached out, and Rígnacait butted his head against William's palm, softly purring. The first day had been a whirlwind of excitement, and Hogwarts was like no school William had ever attended. William leaned over to pick up his schedule. 'Let's see,' he thought. 'Herbology again, then Defence Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor!'. It was his first class with Harry. Hopefully, he'd be able to speak to him. Harry had managed to evade him yesterday, but William was determined to talk with him.

William retrieved his wand and schoolbooks from his desk, then padded quietly out to the common room. He was surprised to see Malfoy sat by the fire, with a troubled look on his face. He was writing a letter, and from what William remembered, likely wouldn't enjoy an interruption. William sneaked around to another couch, trying not to be noticed. Malfoy's head snapped around when William scuffed a couch with his leg, and then relaxed.

"It's only you. Why didn't you greet me when you entered?" He demanded.

William sighed. Their first real conversation, and Malfoy was already proving to be a snotty brat.

"I didn't want to interrupt." He sat down on the couch facing Malfoy. William hesitated. Perhaps, if Malfoy had someone to confide in, he wouldn't be as aggressive to others with the first week, let alone the rest of his schooling.

"Couldn't sleep? He asked.

Malfoy flinched. "No." He said haughtily. "I always get up this early"

"Really?" William asked skeptically.

"Yes. That way I'm wide awake for my first classes."

"Wait, you've had schooling before? Did you get a tutor?"

"The best money can buy." Claimed Malfoy boastfully. "I have even been flying on my own for years!"

William looked unsure. "I've never flown on a broom before. I'm a bit nervous."

"Are you scared of heights?" Scoffed Malfoy.

"It's not the height that bothers me, it's the hitting the ground bit I don't like." Replied William.

Malfoy laughed.

William pulled up his Transfiguration book, determined to get some of the homework done before next class. Professor McGonagall was ruthless, assigning homework for the first lesson. It was only a few hundred words, but the material was mind boggling. Changing molecules from one form to another with the flock of a wand and a few muttered words? Anyone would say you'd be insane.

Herbology proved to be as much the same as the first lesson. Potting plants and learning the various things that each magical plant needed to survive. They learnt what Moly was, and planted Wiggentree and Alihotsy saplings. Moly, when eaten, gives protection from enchantments and Wiggentree is a tree related to the Rowan tree. Upon touching the trunk of a grown tree, it gives protection from dark creatures for as long as they maintain contact. Professor Sprout mentioned that both were ingredients for the Wiggenweld potion, something Professor Snape would be "happy" to show students. For some odd reason, William didn't really believe her.

A quick wash up later and they were lined up outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. William tried to catch Harry's eye, but the boy still avoided him. Draco however, didn't hesitate.

"So you're this Potter I've been hearing about." he said in a drawl. He eyed up Ron, who was never far from Harry's side. "I see you've gotten close with the Weasleys. Watch out you don't catch their stink."

Ron's face darkened and he made to draw his wand, but Harry stopped him.

Draco raised an eyebrow. William noticed that Crabbe and Goyle, who were attempting to loom threateningly again.

"See now?" said Draco. "The wrong sort of people are always foolhardy. I can show you the right sort of people to know."

William sidled up to Neville, who was looking at the confrontation with fear and hesitation on his face. He decided not to interfere unless Harry had a sudden and random change of heart. After all, this conversation was one of the pivotal moments in Harry's life.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "No thanks." he said cooly. "I can tell who's the wrong sort just fine."

William cheered on the inside. Harry's goodwill and strong moral backbone will triumph once more!

Draco looked furious for a moment, then went to draw his wand. All of a sudden, Professor Quirrell opened the door and a waft of garlic smelling air drifted over the students.

"C-c-c-come i-i-inside, if you p-p-p-please." he stuttered in a soft voice.

They filed into the classroom and sat down at their desks. To William's frustration, Defence Against the Dark Arts was that in name only. They were taught about various spells and dark creatures, but in theory only. William awaited Remus Lupin's arrival with bated breath.

William looked across the classroom - in a now common occurrence of trying to think of how to word his essay without sounding too old - and saw Harry, who was sat with Ron. Harry looked up, then upon seeing William, quickly looked down again. Ron followed his gaze and sneered at William before pretending that he didn't exist. It appeared that their distrust of Slytherins was enough to make them forget the conversations on the train. William despaired of ever gaining Harry's trust enough to help him.

Hermione frowned when she saw the boys were distracted from their schoolwork, and saw where they were specifically not looking at. She gave William a sympathetic smile before turning back to the work at hand.

The lesson was spent learning about Gnome's and Doxies, Imps and Bowtruckles. William learned more about Gytrashes than he had ever wished to know. The beasts looked like large, white dogs with a forked tail. They hunted in packs of two to six of the vicious brutes, but they fear the light. They were taught about the Full Body-Bind curse, but weren't actually taught how to cast it. The spell paralyzes the target, causing their limbs to snap together and freeze in place. The target can still think, see - admittedly only in a straight line - feel and hear, distancing the spell from Petrification, which fully turned the target to stone and caused either unconsciousness or death. The incantation of the Full Body-Bind curse was 'Petrificus Totalus', which seemed odd, considering the fact that the spell didn't petrify.

Lunch found William hunched over his Transfiguration book in the library, desperately trying to absorb some knowledge before class. His makeshift study with Hermione yesterday had helped, but he couldn't always rely on another like Harry seemed to do. If he was to stick with his impromptu role as a snake, he might as well be good at it. After all, it might just be fate telling William not to directly get involved, but to work from the shadows. Harry need not know his back was covered, by a Slytherin no less.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Hermione was sat at a table on the other end of the aisle. She was far more ingrained in her book than he was, her nose practically touching the pages. William thought it best to leave her to her own study. While Harry and Ron were no slouches with a wand, Hermione was half the reason that they managed to survive their misadventures. Her problem was that she spent so much time remembering the strengths and weaknesses of others to remember her own strengths.

William shook his head at the thought. With a sigh, he turned back to the study of 'How-to-ignore-the-laws-of-physics'.

William was so glad he had taken the time to read up on Transfiguration during lunch. It meant that he understood more than one word in five, a far sight better than yesterday. He could see why Hermione spent so much time in the library, apart from her love of books. Coming from the muggle world, Transfiguration was about as alien as you can get.

Professor McGonagall touched up on everything they did yesterday, and somehow managed to fit more theory in. At the end of the lesson, she warned them that the first week was going to be all theory until they were fully aware of the dangers of Transfiguration. As the most complex form of magic, it was also where the most can go wrong, and they had to be very careful to get the wand movements right, as well as the incantation to be perfect. Rumours started by older students told of students who were turned into chairs by mistake, and even now were used in the classrooms, silently screaming with every use.

When they when they walked into Charms, they got surprised by a small rope across the doorway. William tripped over it, falling, and bounced off the floor. He looked up in surprise as Professor Flitwick chuckled.

"I thought I might give you a demonstration of the first charm you shall be learning in my class: the Softening Charm," said the tiny professor. "Now now everyone, take your seats and draw your wands. This will be a practical lesson."

William watched as Professor Flitwick drew a curved line, similar to a snake, on the blackboard.

"This is the wand movement required for this charm. Remember to keep clean wand movements; the neater your wand work, the more powerful spell it will produce."

The diminutive professor guided them in the wand movements for several minutes until most of the class were correct.

"The incantation for this charm is 'Spongify'" he declared.

They were to practice the incantation without our wands until Professor Flitwick was satisfied. Finally the students practiced the spell in full. An out of sync chorus of 'Spongify' sounded through the room. There were exclamations of joy and groans of disappointment as students succeeded in casting and failed in equal measure. William was somewhat successful, his target turned squishy, but his finger failed to bounce off when he poked it.

After class, William retreated to the library again, and was mildly surprised to see Hermione had beaten him there again. He joined her at the table and she looked up with a frown. Seeing William, the frown abated slightly, but didn't quite go away. William, noting the lack of complaint, pulled out his books on Defence Against the Dark Arts. The first spell he wanted to properly go over was called the Smokescreen charm, 'Fumos'. Apparently, it created a smokescreen from the wand of the user, hopefully to throw off the aim of an opponent during a duel. It would be useful, and if he could be discreet with it he might help Harry in the years to come. The wand movement was a clockwise swirl, from the center moving outwards, but William decided that perhaps it wouldn't be the best idea to practice it in the library.

It was a surprise to William when a bell rang throughout the library. He had been so caught up in the DADA book that he completely forgot about supper. He glanced around, seeing Hermione reluctantly slotting a bookmark between pages, then storing the book in a bag she hung from her shoulder.

William walked over as they made their way out of the library. "What were you reading?" he asked.

"Oh, just 'Hogwarts: A History'. It's a rather light read." Hermione responded offhand. She still looked a little nervous, which William attributed to the emerald colours. It was not popular to be green, except by other Slytherin's, and only if you were rich.

William eyed up the large bulge the book made in her bag. "Rather light? I struggled with 'The Fellowship of the Ring, and that at least had some excitement."

"The Fellowship of the Ring? I haven't read that yet, although my parents have promised that I'll be allowed when I turn 15 they'll let me." Hermione sounded a bit jealous.

William mentally kicked himself. 'How am I meant to keep this a secret if i keep blabbing about it?'

"I pinched it off my dad's bookshelf in June. The longest book i've ever read." Neither was the truth, but sounded plausible for an 11 year old.

Hermione looked horrified. William imagined a cat with it's fur on end. "You stole a book? How could you?"

William raised his hands to placate her. "I put it back of course. It was a…a poor choice of words. Sorry."

Hermione calmed down, and William imagined the fur settling down again. It was both amusing and worrying.

Supper was a quiet affair, most students talking softly between themselves. William ate in silence, finding nothing alike in his fellow housemates, and the others seemed happy to let him. He watched the other students in his year, Neville sat next to Parvati Patil who was eagerly engaged in gossip with Lavender Brown. Dean Thomas sat close to Seamus Finnigan, and they were talking quietly between them. Draco Malfoy sat in between Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who were doing their level best to ensure no-one bothered Draco. Ernie MacMillan sat with Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abbott. Susan Bones sat next to Hannah, but wasn't talking. Padma Patil, Parvati's twin, was sat with Terry Boot and the other Ravenclaws, seemingly deep in conversation. William heard furious whispering coming from their corner of the room, but couldn't make out any words.

William finished supper before retreating to the common room to study. Rígnacait found him and through pure force of will and adorableness, William had to dedicate time studying the cat instead of his books. Finally, he was freed from his slavery, and grabbed his bag. Tomorrow had DADA then potions. DADA, William was sure he could handle without any studying. Professor Quirrell didn't give them much homework, and didn't seem all that inclined to teach them anything of any value. Perhaps it was the dark wizard directing him from his turban, or maybe he was unqualified to teach students. Why not both?

Instead, William brought out his Potions book. Potions was straight up after DADA, and William had little to no idea of what actually went on in a Potions class, apart from Professor Snape giving Harry and the other Gryffindor's a hard time. He looked at the table of contents, and was surprised by what he saw. He'd assumed that the Potions book would teach all the Potions available to the First Years, but didn't realise that it also listed every single ingredient that went into those potions. Most of the book seemed dedicated to explaining where the ingredient came from and how it could be used. Ground up for this potion, chopped for that one, thinly sliced, diced and crushed. What the amount of times you stirred the cauldron and in which direction meant, and what various ingredients did when they came in contact with each other. It was kind of like cooking. Flour and butter, with a smatter of other ingredients, would make cake, but flour and water, with a smatter of other ingredients, would make bread. Cake and bread, while similar, were made in different conditions, felt and tasted so much different. Just by changing one of the main ingredients, water to flour or vise versa, you could have an entirely different result.

William's eyes drooped, and he put away his books. Perhaps he hadn't gotten enough sleep last night, but surely now he'd be able to drift off without too much trouble. Rígnacait followed him happily to the bed, where William collapsed after changing into his pajamas. Rígnacait sat and watched his master breath in and out for a few minutes, before curling up to sleep upon his legs.


	8. Night School

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. All rights reserved to J.K. Rowling.

A/N: Thanks to rogueclub for my single review last chapter, it really helps to have constructive criticism on my works. I apologize for how long it took for this chapter, I hold a master's degree in procrastination. Please give me a heads up on any spelling errors, I will try to fix them when found. Please review and enjoy!

5th of September, 1991

William opened his eyes, and was confused when it was still dark. It wasn't that early, was it? He reached up and removed the silver cat from his face. Rígnacait meowed his complaint, then slipped off the bed to find his morning meal.

William grabbed his books again, before heading down the corridor to the common room.

At this hour, the common room was empty, so William chose a leather couch facing the fire. The green flames made it somewhat difficult to study his books, so when Rígnacait returned for pets William didn't deny him. He was still playing around when someone stepped into the room behind him. William shrank into the couch. If it was a first year, he would be fine, but he had heard ugly rumours about some of the older Slytherin students. He heard the student sit down on the couch directly behind him and the quiet sound of a quill scratching paper filled the common room. The student muttered to himself as he wrote.

The words came out slowly and carefully, as if the wrong choice of words was disastrous.

"... Potter publicly rejected my offer. I was trying to be nice, and he was very rude. I know that you want me to carry on your legacy, but I don't know if being so harsh is going to make the others fall in line. Do I really have to keep being so mean to them?"

William peeked over the top of the couch, then quickly ducked back. It was Draco Malfoy again! God knows what Draco would do if he learnt that William was eavesdropping.

William brought out his books and stuck his nose in his DADA book as a cover. He tried to get interested, but hearing Draco Malfoy admit that he isn't naturally a dick? This was too good to ignore. A short while later, Draco left for the Owlery, and William relaxed. Perhaps there was hope for Slytherin after all, if Harry's biggest antagonist at school was just following instructions. Maybe William could convince the other Slytherin students to drop the act, if Draco stopped first. Unless, some of the students weren't pretending like Draco is, and just had poor parenting.

William shook himself so he didn't go further down that rabbit hole, and got back to his book.

People slowly filtered into the common room, so William packed his books and headed upstairs for breakfast. He sat down and waited for Dumbledore's morning speech quietly. Gemma Farley sat down next to him, talking with another 5th year. They stopped talking to listen to the headmaster. William got Gemma's attention while they ate.

"Yes William? What do you need?"

"I was wondering… what are the rules on reading ahead of class?"

Gemma frowned. "Reading ahead? Do you mean reading second year books?"

"Yeah. I heard of some interesting spells in more advanced charms classes, so I was wondering if i'd be able to learn them in my spare time."

Gemma laughed. "In your first week? If I were you, i'd be having a hard enough time with regular classes, let alone the next years. Wait until you get the feel for the classes before you try that." She saw the look on William's face. "But yes. You can read ahead. I personally wouldn't advise it, but you can if you want."

William smiled. "Thanks Gemma!"

The fifth year prefect went back to her breakfast incredulously. First Harry Potter, then ickle firsties reading ahead? What was the world coming to?

William stood outside of the DADA classroom with the other First years. Harry stood to one side with Ron, talking quietly, and Hermione stood with Neville towards the back of the group. Hermione never really had friends, and Neville was as accident prone as anyone William had ever met. He was constantly spilling his inkwell over his papers, dropping his quill and wand, and tripping over his own feet. William suspected other Slytherin students were behind that last one though.

Draco walked up to Harry with Crabbe and Goyle close behind.

"What are you talking about, Potter? Care to share with the rest of us?" He said loudly.

Harry turned to regard Malfoy with disdain.

Ron scoffed at Malfoy. "Why would you care? I suppose Crabbe and Goyle don't carry conversation very well."

Crabbe stepped forward, but Draco held his hand up. "No, that's fair, they are a little slow. But they are loyal, unlike blood traitors like yourself."

Harry looked confused, but Ron got mad. He drew his wand, but stopped when he heard another voice call out.

"A blood traitor, is he? If I recall correctly, the Weasley's have never had a dark wizard. The Malfoy's, on the other hand… Isn't your father a Death Eater, Draco?"

Students parted like the red sea to reveal William.

"You see," he continued, "no-one really believes that he was under the imperius curse. He just has his fingers in every department, and if he were to fall, so would everyone else."

Draco looked furious. "How dare you insult my father? You'll pay for that-"

"Mudblood?" Interrupted William. "Is that what you were going to say? Because you're right. I am muggleborn. But that doesn't make me any less of a wizard. My ancestors were muggles, and if you go back far enough, so are yours. The only thing you get out of inbreeding yourselves are people like Crabbe and Goyle. Do you really think that they are superior wizards to, say, Hermione Granger?"

Hermione blushed at that, while Draco snapped. "Granger is nothing but a filthy little mudblood." He snarled.

"10 points from Slytherin!" an older girl's voice rang out over the conflict.

Heads turned to see Penelope Clearwater striding towards the crowd. The Fifth year Prefect didn't look to be much in the mood for an argument.

Draco scowled, and looked to be about to respond when the door to DADA opened. William thought it was odd that Quirrell was there to stop a potential clash again, yet kept up the appearance of weakness at all other times.

"W-w-what is the meaning of th-th-this?" He stuttered.

"Mr. Malfoy used some rather foul language, Professor. Hopefully, he has learnt his lesson." Penelope leveled her gaze at Draco, who looked down irritability.

"I th-think that sh-sh-should be all for now, Miss Clearwater." said Professor Quirrell.

Penelope nodded and moved on down the hallway. William saw Ron look at him in confusion and whisper something to Harry.

This Defence Against the Dark Arts was as much of a disappointment as the previous lesson. All theory and no practice, they weren't learning any defence, let alone against the dark arts. Perhaps this was Voldemort preventing students from learning anything useful, or perhaps Professor Quirrell was just a poor teacher. Either way, William felt he could have learnt more in his own time than he could in Quirrell's class. He finished his essay on how to clear a doxie hive in record time, and spent the rest of the lesson reading the first year DADA book, looking for anything vaguely useful. He found a spell, Periculum, that shoots red sparks out of the end of the user's wand like fireworks. Another, the Knock-back jinx might be useful against a human opponent, but would do nothing to the Troll that was due by Halloween.

After DADA, they all marched downstairs to the dungeons. This was their first potions lesson, and a few Gryffindors looked nervous and out of place. In contrast, Pansy Parkinson looked like she was enjoying the cold, damp tunnels. They entered Professor Snape's domain, and sat at the desks available. Snape strode in, his hair greasy and face shallow. He walked behind his desk and picked up a clipboard, before taking roll.

"Ah, yes." He said softly. "Harry Potter. Our new… celebrity."

The lesson seemed as much the same as William remembered from the book, from Snape's apparent hatred of anyone unfortunate enough to be named Potter, to Draco and co. sniggering when Harry got verbally abused. After half the lesson of Snape punishing Harry for, well, being Harry, the Professor separated them into pairs, and William ended up with Pansy. Pansy didn't look like she liked it any more than William did, but didn't object to Snape.

They were to brew a potion to cure boils, and that's where it all went wrong. Pansy kept looking at him funny as he tried to prepare the ingredients, and had to correct him a few times. What did it matter that it was diced, not chopped? It all got cut, and all ended up in the potion anyway. But, it did make a difference, as far as Snape was concerned. He stalked around the benches, and frowned when he saw William's work.

"Be sure to stay behind after class, Mr. Brown. We have something to discuss."

William just nodded. It wouldn't do to irritate perhaps the most feared Professor at Hogwarts. After somehow managing to get a moderately successful potion, mostly due to Pansy, there was a commotion at the Gryffindor tables. Neville was writhing on the floor in pain as boils erupted all over his body. A hole had melted through the bottom of his cauldron, and students were jumping onto stools to avoid the bubbling liquid. Professor Snape rushed over, insulting Neville and Harry both while vanishing the failed potion. The rest of the lesson wasn't much better.

The rest of the class filed out of the classroom while William waited in front of Snape's desk. The man in question sat down behind his desk and looked closely at William.

"Who are you?"

The question was unexpected, and caught William off-guard.

"You were placed in Slytherin, yet are unlike all the other Slytherin students I have taught so far. What makes you so different?"

William fumbled for an answer. "Honestly Professor? I don't know. I just remember waking up here at Hogwarts, and you know the rest."

Snape looked him in the eye with a frown on his face. Too late did William realise that Snape could use Legilimency, and broke eye contact. Snape's eyes widened fractionally, and he pulled William's textbook towards him and opened it rapidly.

"Here Mr. Brown. In order to improve at potions, you must study out of class. You will do this or you will fail. Am I understood?"

William nodded numbly. Professor Snape looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, Professor." said William hurriedly.

Snape continued. "Cross reference the uses of ingredients and what they do when prepared differently, as it is very much different. See how each ingredient reacts with another and prepare for your next class. I will not have a Slytherin student failing whilst I am teaching. You are dismissed."

William took his book and left the classroom in a hurry. While the Professor wasn't angry with him, he was still an intimidating man.

A few minutes after William left the classroom, headed for the Great Hall, a dark-robed figure quickly made its way to the Headmaster's study.

William ate a quick lunch, ignoring the glares he got from Draco and his cronies, then retreated to the library. After a quick search, he found a book that he wanted to take a close look at later, but now was the time to follow Professor Snape's instructions. He sat down at a study table and pulled out his potions book. Potions had been a disaster, and he didn't want to be the only Slytherin who Snape disliked. He started the slow process of cross referencing each ingredient when a large book thudded onto the table. William looked up in surprise at Hermione, who was looking at his potions book in horror.

"William, that's your textbook!" She exclaimed. "How can you do such a thing?"

William dropped his quill and raised his hands in defence. "Professor Snape told me to!" He said quickly.

Hermione was brought up short. "What? Why would he do that?"

"Because I'm not very good at potions, and he doesn't want a Slytherin to fail his class?" William ventured.

Hermione took a closer look at his book. "What did Professor Snape ask you to do, exactly?" She asked quieter.

"He told me to cross reference the properties of the ingredients, how it changes depending on the preparation and how each reacts with other ingredients. I suppose it's meant to give me insight on how potions work, but I'm a little slow at it." William explained.

Hermione reluctantly gave him a quick rundown of how to properly cross reference his potions, then sat sullenly with her books in front of her. After a few minutes of silence, Hermione tentatively spoke.

"Thank you, for what you said to Draco."

William glanced up at her. "That's alright. I meant it. You are a brilliant witch."

With his head down, William missed the blush that slowly filled Hermione's cheeks.

After lunch, William found himself outside the Charms classroom. Draco was giving him a wide berth, but hostile eyes followed him everywhere. The door opened and Professor Flitwick invited them inside. Each desk had a large feather on it, and William instantly knew what they were doing. Back in 2001, or rather, what will happen? This was confusing. Back in 2001, the movie adaptation of the first book came out, and of course William was first in line at the local movie theatre to watch it. This scene was iconic, and not just because of the magical ability that Hermione showed, but because of the meme it became.

"Now everyone, we are going to be practicing one of a wizards most rudimentary skills, namely 'levitation', or the ability to make things fly. The wand movements can be remembered like so: Swish and flick! Try it now."

Everyone swished, and everyone flicked, but few did it with any real accuracy. William supposed it would come in time, he could only hope it would come sooner rather than later.

"The incantation for the levitation spell is 'Wingardium Leviosa'. Remember to enunciate the 'O', rather than the 'A' at the end. We had a rather unfortunate incident with the Gryffindor students where a feather blew up!"

The classroom was filled with a chorus of 'Wingardium LeviOsa', and an unsurprising lack of feathers in the air. William looked around, and tried to remember what Hermione did in the movie. It may not have been entirely accurate to the books, but it was still canon. He changed the grip on his wand so it was less like a sword, more like a long key.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The feather slowly, but surely, rose in the air until it was level with his face.

Professor Flitwick saw his work. "Well done Mr Brown!"

Draco heard Professor Flitwick's praise and looked at William with barely disguised irritation. He noted William's grip and scoffed, then attempted the spell without success. His frustration grew, and he tried again with no change. Finally he gave up, and watched Terry Boots copy William's grip, then cast it perfectly. Terry's feather rose to eye height as well, even faster than William's.

The other Ravenclaw students were watching closely and soon all had changed their grip to mirror William's. Soon, another nine feathers were floating in the air at various heights. Some of the other Slytherin students also followed along, but Draco refused to follow William's example out of pure spite.

Professor Flitwick, on the other hand, was delighted that so many students could cast the spell within one lesson.

History of Magic may be one of the most boring classes in, well, the history of magic! But it was very useful in that William was able to retrieve the book he had borrowed from the library and start to study it. The book was on advanced charms, specifically those taught in 4th year. The spell William was focused on was the Summoning Charm, 'accio'. Theoretically, the charm would summon the targeted object towards the caster, causing the object to fly at an incredible speed. It will only work if the caster is looking at the target, gives a description of the target or knows the target personally. If William wanted to summon a quill, for example, he could summon the quill in front of him, but if he wanted to summon Hermione's quill, he would need to say 'Accio Hermione's quill' to get the desired effect. If William's quill were in the next room over, as it is his personal quill, he could just say 'Accio quill' and the spell would, theoretically, work as intended.

Professor Binns was talking about another goblin rebellion, so William decided to take a chance and practice the charm.

After half an hour of whispering variations of 'Accio quill', a very tired William finally got a result. The quill shot off the desk and slammed into his face at what felt like the speed of light. Admittedly, the quill was a feather, so rather than decapitating him, William was merely knocked from his seat and the quill was obliterated. Every head in the room rose from it's sleep and stared at William.

"I, uh… fell asleep… Yep. I fell asleep." He managed.

Professor Binns looked irritated. "If you wouldn't mind falling asleep out of class next time Mr Brown?" He said, seemingly ignorant of the fact that most of the other students had also been asleep.

He went back to mindlessly droning on about the goblin rebellion while the students laid their heads down on their desks again, occasionally scribbling notes half-heartedly. William was too excited about the successful spell to care about the Professor's annoyance. He had done it! A first year, casting a spell that wasn't meant to be learnt until fourth? Admittedly, it had taken most of one lesson to get it right once, and he still lacked proper control, but he'd done it!

Everyone trudged out of class, tired and ready for supper, all except for William. He practically strolled out the door, a spring in his step. Him, a muggleborn from another plane of reality, cast a spell that none of his fellow students could hope to cast. We'll, none but Hermione. She seemed like she could do anything, if she didn't overthink everything. William left for the library, predicting that Hermione would beat him there. To his complete lack of surprise, he found her sat at a desk in the depths of the library. He was, however, surprised to find Pansy Parkinson had somehow managed to enter the library and not catch fire. He was amazed that she not only entered of her own free will, but got here before him! Pansy was stood in front of the table Hermione was attempting to study at, leering down at her. Hermione for her part was scowling into her book.

"What's wrong Granger?" Mocked Pansy. "All on your lonesome? Don't worry, I'll keep you company."

Hermione mumbled something into her book. William quietly drew his wand. He didn't know very many spells, but he had been practicing everyday since he arrived in this world. It had to count for something.

"What's did you say, Granger? You'll have to speak up if you want people to hear whatever nonsense you have to say."

Hermione mumbled again, barely louder, but enough for Pansy to hear.

"Leave you alone?" She laughed, high and mocking. "But then you'd be all alone. Especially a little girl in a big scary castle. Who knows what could happen."

Hermione muttered something under her breath.

"Speak up Granger! I can't hear you!" The last part was much louder, and William was surprised that Madam Pince hadn't come by to evict them.

"If you can't hear her, perhaps you need to get your ears cleaned," he said, casting a jinx at Pansy. "Look, you've got vegetables growing in them."

Pansy shrieked as leeks started sprouting from her ears and she ran out of the library towards the hospital wing. Madam Pince stalked by, but William and Hermione were looking at the retreating back of Pansy in silence, and William had put his wand away. The Librarian walked back to her desk with a frown on her face, upset at not finding the cause of disturbance in her domain.

Hermione glanced at William. "You probably shouldn't have done that. You'll get in trouble with Professor Snape."

William waved at her protest. "Nah, I'll be fine. I'm in Slytherin, Snape won't take points from his own house. It's not his style. At most, I'll get a slap on the wrist and a warning not to jinx my housemates. Either way, it was worth it."

Hermione looked at him oddly. "You'd get in trouble for me?"

"Yeah, you're my friend. Actually, you're my only friend. Harry doesn't seem to like me for some reason and Malfoy has the rest of the Slytherin first years at his beck and call. Well, except for Blaize Zambini. He doesn't seem to listen to anyone."

Hermione frowned. "Still, you're turning against your own house. What if the others treat you bad because of me?"

William scowled. "There shouldn't even be any divisions between students, let alone because of their mindset. Look at Beauxbatons. They don't have houses, just one school united together. And if the other's treat me bad, I'll just hex them into next week."

Hermione allowed a small smile. "Now you're sounding like a Gryffindor."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" he asked with a smile.

"Now, I didn't say that."

William sat down at the desk, pulling out his books and his backup quill. "I learnt this spell earlier, but it's really hard. I only managed it the once, and I have little control."

"What is it?"

"I found it in an advanced Charms book. It's the Summoning Charm 'accio'. Like this."

Hermione watched as the quill flew into William's face, toppling him from his chair. William returned to his seat amidst a cloud of feathery strands. Hermione bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Yes, you are very proficient at it." She said with a smile. "Isn't it meant to fly towards you, not attack you though?"

"Har Har. Laugh all you want. When I get good at this spell, I won't need to leave the library. I can just summon food to me."

Hermione frowned. "Doesn't that break Gamp's Law? I thought you can't summon food."

William smirked. "You can if the food already exists. I'll just get it off of Ron's plate, he eats enough for three."

Hermione shuffled her book. "Speaking of learning Charms above our year level, I saw one that might help against Draco Malfoy. The disarming charm. It makes the opponent's wand fly out of their hand and into yours. It would work wonderfully if we get the casting fast enough."

William smiled at the mention of Harry's favourite spell. "Sounds great! Do you think we should expand our repertoire, miss Granger?" He asked in a highly exaggerated posh voice.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and put a hand to her chest. "Why yes, Mr Brown, that is precisely what I am suggesting." She said with a giggle.

"Well…" said William, "We'd best get started!"

Supper was quiet, up until a third year started uncontrollably singing everything he said. Most everybody already knew the two culprits. Even the first years knew the reputation of the Weasley twins by this point. William overheard more than one older Hufflepuff give advice on how to stay up for astrology, the younger 'Puffs leaning in to catch every word.

Malfoy was another matter entirely. He was bragging to a enraptured audience how skillful he was on a broomstick. William knew, however, that Harry could beat Draco as Seeker, regardless of broom. This was all prompted by a newsletter that appeared on the Common Room noticeboard. There was Quidditch trials next week, as well as lessons for first years.

"My father says that he has never seen anyone fly so well in all his years!" Malfoy was saying.

William opened his mouth before he could stop himself. "I didn't know your father likes watching other children. Does he make much of a habit of it?"

Malfoy turned purple while there was scattered laughter from various students who had heard.

"As you seem to take every opportunity to slander my family in front of everyone, why not a duel, Brown?" he managed to growl.

William shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. Who's your second?"

Malfoy sized up his minions. "Crabbe. See you in the Trophy Room after Astrology."

William frowned. "Why the Trophy Room? No-one will get to see me wipe the floor with you. Why not the Common Room, after supper? After all, it's not like you do much of the homework you've been set."

Malfoy seethed while someone sniggered. "Fine!" he snapped. "You'll regret this, Brown!"

Most of the Slytherin students had heard of the duel as whispers filled the Great Hall, and even a few students from the other houses heard it. While it wasn't unusual for someone to duel another at Hogwarts, a duel between a pureblood family like Malfoy and a self-confessed muggleborn was something else. Bullying was known, and unfortunately, expected, from the Slytherin students, but a duel? William Brown must really have pissed off Malfoy to get that reaction out of him.

William left the Great Hall, marked by several hundred pairs of eyes, hungry for the news of the battle, and one pair of eyes, concerned for their friend. He walked purposefully, back straight, staring straight ahead, but inside he was a ball of stabbing anxiety. Why had he challenged Malfoy? The boy was raised learning the Dark Arts, the son of the most prominent Death Eater. How could a stranger to this world ever hope to challenge him?

The Common Room was slowly packed with Slytherin students, as well as a few others who managed to sneak their way in. Two identical, brown haired boys were standing on a couch at the back, watching with great interest. William frowned. He had never seen either boy during his time here, but they did look very familiar.

William walked through the crowd, who seperated upon sight of the small, brown haired first year. Malfoy stood proudly, if slightly angry, at the other side of a circle of students.

"Shall we get this on with, Brown? I have things to do." sneered Malfoy snarkily.

William just nodded. He feared that if he spoke, it would betray his fear. Frankly, he was amazed how composed he looked compared to how he felt. An older student had given him a mirror with which to groom himself, saying only "A wizard must look his best to be his best."

William bowed, whilst Draco merely inclined his head. Students behind both combatants separated, knowing that if either missed it would hit those behind. The books J.K. Rowling wrote didn't give an accurate description of what a proper dueling stance was, and the stance in the movies looked like it was far too slow in rate of fire. He stood side on to Draco, figuring that he might as well make himself less of a target. Wand out in front, he waited for his opponent to get into position.

"You'll pay for what you did to Pansy today!" Draco snarled.

"We'll see." replied William.

When Draco was ready, a seventh year counted to 3.

"Three…"

"Two…"

"O-"

"Everte Statum!" cried Malfoy.

William threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the orange spell, before waving his wand in a complicated movement.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

A white light flew from his wand and struck Malfoy, who was gaping at William. The spell took effect, and the blond boy's limbs snapped together and he fell backwards, his stiff body rocking on the floor. Students laughed, and William saw one of the identical boys pass the other a knut. He could have sworn that he knew them, but there were no twins in Slytherin. He looked down at Malfoy, who was still frozen solid. He thought to say something, but nothing witty came to mind, so he awkwardly stepped past the stiff body of his foe and walked back to his dorm. He wouldn't be able to get away to study on one of the couches, considering the crowd, but he might get some reading done in his room. He retreated to his bed and drew the curtains, before losing himself in the mysteries of homework.

Several hours later, William followed the other first years to the Astronomy Tower, blinking sleep from his eyes. He'd managed to get a few hours of sleep in, but this body wasn't built for staying up to midnight. He'd avoided Malfoy all evening, but couldn't avoid class with the git. As they sat in their seats, William decided to sit next to Justin Finch-Fletchley. The Hufflepuff boy flinched when he saw William, and tried to inconspicuously shuffle to the edge of his seat. William ignored him and got out his astronomy books. They were taught the names of various constellations and planets, and William noticed that most, if not all, of the Black family were named after the stars or constellations. He noted Sirius, Bellatrix, Orion, and even Draco. He suspected that Narcissa Malfoy had some hand in his naming, as she was born a Black. William yawned.

Professor Sinistra finished handing out homework before dismissing the class. As William started down the stairs, he felt something tug his ankle and he fell forward. Luckily, the stairwell was built with multiple landings, so he didn't have far to tumble before coming to a stop in a ragged heap, books strewn down the stairs. The short fall, however, did not prevent him from receiving bruised shins and a sore neck. A few Hufflepuffs stopped to help him collect his books, but by the time he was on his feet again, the other Slytherin students had gone. William thanked the few who helped him before returning to his dorm, where he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


End file.
